Update Lead Records Instead of Contacts

[Josh_B]

We have a similar model and problem as the below post where anytime a person fills out a form on our website we create a new lead, but the contact record is getting updated instead of the lead record.

https://nation.marketo.com/t5/product-discussions/contact-lead-update-issue/m-p/117214#M76303

When working with duplicate records is there any way to specify in a flow which record gets updated? 

Process being used:

• Update values in a smart campaign flow for things like score, campaign, interesting moment, etc.
• Sync Person to SFDC and assign to a queue (to purposefully create a new duplicate lead).

All of the values get successfully updated on the contact but when creating a duplicate lead the only value that is not replicated is campaign membership. Meaning both contact and lead now have the same score, interesting moment, etc. but only the contact is in the campaign. 

We have tried all sorts of combinations like creating the duplicate lead first and then updating the values, using conditions on the add to campaign step to only update the record if a lead or not a contact, etc. But each time all values get updated on both records except for campaign membership, which is only updated on the contact record. I can't seem to figure out why this one value is only updated on the contact record and not the new lead record. 

I realize that this is one of the pitfalls in dealing with duplicate records but if I'm hoping someone from the community might be able to offer some insight as to ways around this vs just rearchitecting the whole setup. 

[SanfordWhiteman · Accepted solution]

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When working with duplicate records is there any way to specify in a flow which record gets updated? 

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No, because the Flow is already running in the context of a specific Marketo record. It can’t switch records midstream.

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The only thing Marketo ever does automatically across different records is synchronize the system Unsubscribed field for records with the same email address. In all other ways the records are maintained separately. Which is appropriate: if you make the decision to use the same email address for multiple records the assumption is the underlying humans have different life cycles.

But if you have a Smart Campaign whose Smart List qualifies all users with the email address mailbox@example.com and runs them through a set of Flow steps, everything will initially happen to all of them. Multiple records with the same email address can be in the same Marketo Program, simultaneously. However this doesn’t mean Salesforce will allow you to perform all the desired actions, instead blocking an SFDC Lead and SFDC Contact with the same email address from being in the same Campaign. But that’s not anything Marketo can change.

[Darshil_Shah1]

We implemented something similar for one of our clients recently where we created duplicate lead records when corresponding contact record hit the QL stage, instead of relying on Marketo to create/update the duplicate lead records, we used a third party service to facilitate the sync and ensure that both the lead and contact records have same data for the fields important to our Sales and Marketing team and our MA architecture. As Sandy correctly said, you cannot specify which of the multiple records having same email address flow through the campaign flow steps, Marketo treats duplicate lead records as separate people except for the Unsub field.

[aislinge]

Hi Josh! 

We are experiencing a similar issue. We would like to use the 'Sync Person to SFDC flow step: Assign to Lead Queue' to create a new lead record where a contact record already exists. However, we have noticed that we are losing all marketing attribution on the new duplicate lead when it is synced, and the contact record is receiving all of the updates (added to marketo/SFDC campaign, changing person status). We would like to reflect changes to the person status to the new lead record only (change to MQL when it is synced to the queue) and make sure it is added to the campaign for example.

I would be interested to know if you had any success coming up with a solution to your issue and it would be great if you could share your flow steps? Thanks very much!

[Josh_B]

Thanks @SanfordWhiteman for confirming how this process is working behind the scenes. This was helpful in understanding what Marketo can/cannot do and allowed us to not waste any more time trying to "trick" Marketo into updating the lead over the contact. I will mark your answer as correct.

@aislinge  - We ended up solving our issue through a combination of a Marketo & Salesforce flow. We first passed the campaign id and status to Salesforce and then we used a Salesforce flow to add the lead to the correct campaign based on the values passed. It is likely not the most elegant solution but when dealing with duplicates I'm not sure there is one 😀. 

[ChantelH]

Curious how you passed the campaign ID. working on a similar solution myself.